Imbibe-ing the love!!

Far be it for me to toot my own horn, so I'll let the current July/August issue of my favorite drinks rag Imbibe Magazine blow it long and loud, because they were savvy and kind enough to choose my humble wine shack VINO here in Portland as one of the Eight Great U.S. Wine Shops!!! What do I think of that? Pretty fucking awesome, that's what! Grab the latest issue at your favorite magazine vendor and check me...er, it out. My only complaint? I know I'm a big white guy, but it would have been nice to photoshop some skin tone into the pic, but hey, I'll take it. Huge thanks to publisher Karen Foley, Siobhan Crosby, and my interviewer Amy Zavatto for letting me vent and leaving in the expletives. You guys have absolutely rocked my world!!

Cellar Report: '99 Coste-Caumartin Pommard

God, I remember the days back in college when I was satisfied with a quart of Schlitz Malt Liquor and some weed. How it came to this I'm still not sure, but all I can say is thank god it did! I mean, if I'm going to get a buzz on it feels a helluva lot better doing it with premier cru Burgundy rather than rat poison beer.

Last night to celebrate the grilling of the first t-bone of the season, I decided that w and I should mark the occasion with some pinot noir in the French tradition. I came across a few bottles of this juice languishing on one of my local distributors price lists. They only had four bottles left, which was hardly enough to share with my people at the wine shack, so they ended up in my personal stash. I opened the first one a couple of weeks ago with my pal DOR and his lovely bride....corked! Damn!! So it was with more than a little trepidation that I popped the cork on last night's beverage. Oh yeah, not too worry because this turned out to be an awesome red wine.

Coste-Caumartin is a tiny burgundy producer in the village of Pommard, and this freakishly beautiful bottle of adult refreshment from the "le Clos des Boucherottes" vineyard in the Pommard appellation is what they call a monopole bottling, meaning that Coste-Caumartin owns and produces 100% of the grapes from this site. 1999 was an excellent vintage in Burgundy, and the wines are by reputation just now starting to drink well. Right out of the bottle I would never have guessed this one at eight years old. It was so fresh and bright with vibrant cherry, spice, and smoke flavors that kept developing and amplifying, backed with young tannins and perfect acidity. After about an hour it blossomed, giving up this intense, complex earthiness that was so incredible, a luscious ripeness rolling out from underneath. Absolutely beautiful pinot noir that makes me understand why there are so many Burgundy dorks out there in wine land. Those malt liquor days never seemed so far away!

Drinking Stones

If there's one thing you need to know about me (like it's not obvious), it is that I'm always looking for ways to enhance my eating/drinking enjoyment, and hopefully yours. In that selfless vein, I've stumbled across some great vin blancs from the Savoie region of France that are fabulous values, and things you all should be checking out for your summer drinking. This particular obscure French white produced by the small family estate of Eugéne Carell, tucked away in the Savoie region (near Grenoble in the foothills of the Alps) is a classic example. It's made entirely of some grape called Jacquère, and no, I haven't heard of it either, but that's part of the fun. This is packed with character, you can taste the way the vines suck up aromas and flavors from these mountain vineyards. All stones and minerals, aromatic wildflowers, hints of citrus backed with bracing acidity with great texture. It's begging for fresh shucked oysters or grilled fish. The fun of wines like this is that they truly can be made nowhere else. That whole sense of place thing, or as the geeks like to say, it has "terroir" up the ass (okay, that last part is what I'd say, but you get my drift). Fantastic juice!! And these wines usually run around ten bucks a pop, making them some of the best drinking deals to be had. I've been blowing through cases of it at the wine shack, and the public is raving. Bring one of these to the table and your friends will be impressed with your Euro style, I promise!

'Tis the Season!

Wines above (r to l): '06 J. Christopher "Christo Irresisto" (Oregon); '06 Conte di Buscareto Marche Rosato (Italy); '06 Provenza Chioretto (Italy); '06 Domaine Sorin "Terra Amata" Cotes de Provence (France); '06 Commanderie de la Bargemone Coteaux d'Aix en Provence (France)

You know when the New York Times wrote a feature article on them last summer, their time had come. Once derided, many times with cause, as sickly sweet bottles of luridly pink white "zinfandel", today the dry, crisp rosés from France and Italy, and in certain cases America, have now taken their rightful, delicious place among the must drink wines for spring and summer enjoyment.

I've been pimping these wines hard for the past five years here at the wine shack, and each year I've seen sales zooming. Nothing satisfies on a warm afternoon and evening like rosé. Dry, refreshing, bright, with the best having a bracing backbone of acidity, these are essential wines for the summer table. With more body than white wines (they are made from red wine grapes that are pressed and then have the juice taken off the skins before too much pigment colors the wine), these are remarkable food friendly, and with most things off the grill are perfect matches. I'll gladly slurp these down with 'qued burgers, chicken, and sausages. They are perfect foils for garlic-rosemary grilled shrimp (recipe follows) and most other seafood. And best of all they are eminently affordable. All five wines pictured come in at under $14 a pop! The picture above shows a few of my current favorites. If they aren't available where you live, try some others. You've gotta join the club. And guys, don't be afraid, because real men can drink pink!

********************

GRILLED ROSEMARY GARLIC SHRIMP
1/4 cup finely chopped garlic, mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves plus sprigs for garnish
3 tablespoons olive oil plus oil for brushing shrimp
16 jumbo shrimp (about 10 per pound)
four 12-inch bamboo skewers
lemon wedges as an accompaniment

In a large bowl stir together garlic, minced rosemary, and 3 tablespoons oil and add shrimp. Marinate shrimp, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

In a shallow dish soak skewers in water to cover 30 minutes and prepare grill.

To grill, thread 4 shrimp on each skewer and brush with additional oil. Grill shrimp on an oiled rack, set about 5 inches over glowing coals, 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through.

Alternatively, brush shrimp with additional oil and grill in a hot well-season ridged grill pan, covered, over moderately high heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Garnish shrimp with rosemary sprigs and serve with lemon wedges.

"You call this work?"...pt.2

As if all the work I put in for the previous post wasn't enough, yesterday three friends from my favorite drinks rag, Imbibe Magazine, stopped by the wine shack to taste a batch of Oregon Pinot Noir Rosés for an article coming out in their June issue and to get some input from yours truly. Always happy to help enable the public's consumption and education, and being a lover of all things pink and grapey, I was more than ready. We popped the corks on eight bottles from various local producers, and dove in. Unfortunately, we should've jumped right out, because with one or two exceptions, these were major disappointments.....
My idea of a perfect rosé is one that is dry, crisp, fresh on the nose, light to medium bodied with a snappy finish. You know, pretty much what you get from 90% of Euro rosés, which are my standard bearers. In my experience feeding these to my customers, this is what the public seems to prefer as well. After tasting these local atrocities yesterday, I've gotta wonder what these Oregon wine dudes are thinking. It wasn't just me, either. The Imbibe people pretty much agreed. Especially when I pulled out two '06 French versions so they could see how it should be done. The French bottles blew the Oregon juice away, leaving them seeming simple, one dimensional, and flabby. A couple of the Oregon bottles were near undrinkable. The '06 Maysara was sweet, cloying, lacking acid and any presence. The 2006 Sokol Blosser was undrinkable, having this awful wet wood, smelly sock aroma and flavor that as the wine warmed up only got worse. Kate from Imbibe told me they're pimping it hard at New Seasons, a local grocery chain. All I can say is they must have been cut a helluva deal. Two words: Buyer Beware! Three more: Save your money! This was awful. The one that I will actually consider carrying is the '06 Elk Cove, which actually had that dry, crisp, refreshing character I look for. The '06 Ponzi Rosado is also marginally acceptable. The others were forgettable, and frankly a waste of glass. Plus their prices were almost uniformly $3-$6 more per bottle than what a delicious Euro rosé would cost...yikes!
Oh, the big winner? The little Frenchie rosé from Provence, the 2006 Domaine Sorin "Terra Amata" (above), a steal at $10.95. Perfect right out of the bottle, and even as it sat in the glass didn't lose a bit of its bright, charming flavors. Memo to Oregon rosé producers: Before you start working on your '07 pinks, PLEASE open a few bottles of French, Spanish, or Italian rosés. If not for yourselves, then for your victims...err, customers, who you hope will buy this stuff!

Cellar Report

I know the focus is on food here, but what do we have with food more often other than a bottle of wine? Let me answer that for you who need to have the obvious overstated...NOTHING! Just reading about food without knowing what to drink with it is like test driving that new Benzo without checking out the stereo or A/C. Remember knowledge is power gang.

Here at the wine shack I get asked all the time, "How long will this wine last?", and the answer I give is "At least as long as it takes for your credit card to clear." Okay, maybe that isn't my answer, but knowing how long you can cellar a wine is kind of an esoteric subject, so every now and then when I pull something out of the archives, I'll give a little report on how it's showing.

Last night was a beautiful, warm spring evening here in Portland, so w and I fired up the grill for some grass-fed beef cheeseburgers off the Weber. We had just been talking about different kinds of wines we liked, and w had mentioned her preference for good Oregon pinot noir. I had just rearranged the collection, and had a few things that were ready to go, and because I only want for the happiness of others I grabbed a bottle of 1998 Evesham Wood "Seven Springs Vineyard" Pinot Noir for the table. The last time I had this particular wine was about two+ years ago at a restaurant in NYC, and then it was okay, but still very acidic and a bit lean, so I didn't know what to expect. All I can say is what a difference 795 days can make. This has developed into a classic bottle of Oregon noir. EW's pinots are always delicate, more feminine wines, and owner Russ Raney never loads on, thankfully, a lot of new wood. He lets the fruit do the talking, which too many wine makers, in search of high scores, forget to do. When first in the glass, it was a bit smoky and cherryish, and that tart acidity I didn't like last time had integrated into the fruit perfectly. As it sat open it just opened up more and more, and after an hour or so, it was showing loads of sweet, strawberry and slightly peppery, minerally fruit, hints of earthiness just peeking out, with a velvety, long finish. If Russ had been one of those guys who loads on the new wood on top of overripe fruit, which like I said is all the rage, this wouldn't have been near so good going on ten years old. Really great wine, and I'm glad I have one more bottle, which I'll probably let rest comfortably for another couple of years. I love it when it works out like that!

By the way, if you have some bottles in your basements that you're wondering how they might be drinking, feel free to send them to me and I'll let you know! No? Well, then feel free to leave a comment with your question(s) and I'll answer back here and give you my semi-educated opinion. I'm all about love and information at Eat.Drink.Think., so take advantage!

Cooking Wine: more bang, less bucks!

What would I rather do with that $40 bottle of Barolo, drink it or dump it into a pot so my Barolo Braised Beef tastes more "authentic"? I have to admit the last time I made this dish, I used a $15 nebbiolo, but just so you know, the next time I make it I'm reaching for the $5 Spanish red and saving the Barolo for the table.

All this new knowledge was brought about by a great article in today's NYT about the value of cooking with the best wine possible versus using something cheap, perhaps even Two Buck Chuck-ish. All of us passionate, amateur home cooks have always believed the rap that the better the wine, the better the dish. Well, it turns out we can keep more of our hard earned jack in our wallets because as this article by Julia Moskin seems to prove, the cheap juice works just fine. Maybe some of the best cooking news I've heard in a long time, and answers the question that I get asked all the time at VINO.

When you click on the link for the article, there are also three great recipes you can link to. You can bet your bellies I'll be trying them soon and reporting the results. Here's the recipe for Barolo Braised Beef that I got off Epicurious...it rocked the dinnner table!

BAROLO BRAISED BEEF
ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (3- to 3 1/2-lb) boneless beef chuck roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 lb sliced pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 (4- to 6-inch) sprigs fresh thyme
2 (6- to 8-inch) sprigs fresh rosemary 2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups Barolo or other full-bodied red (and if you read the NYT article, you can go all Mario Batali and use the cheap merlot- bb)
2 cups water
*Special equipment: a 4- to 5-qt heavy ovenproof pot with lid

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

Heat oil in pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Meanwhile, pat meat dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown meat in hot oil on all sides, about 10 minutes total. (If bottom of pot begins to scorch, lower heat to moderate.) Transfer to a plate using a fork and tongs. Add pancetta to oil in pot and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until browned and fat is rendered, about 3 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, and rosemary and sauté, stirring, until garlic begins to soften and turn golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil until liquid is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add water and bring to a simmer, then return meat along with any juices accumulated on plate to pot. Cover pot with lid and transfer to oven. Braise until meat is very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Transfer meat to a cutting board. Skim fat from surface of sauce and discard along with herb stems. Boil sauce until reduced by about one third, about 5 minutes, then season with salt. Cut meat across the grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices and return to sauce.
*Cooks' note: Beef improves in flavor if made 3 days ahead. Cool completely in sauce, uncovered, then chill in sauce, covered. Reheat, covered, in a preheated 350°F oven until hot, 25 to 30 minutes, then slice meat. (I made it same day and it tasted just fine, but next time I'll plan ahead and see if it does matter- bb)
*Accompaniment: creamy polenta